Posted tagged ‘viral marketing’

Last year the TRON Legacy viral marketing campaign started off with a bang as they recreated (to an extent) the arcade from the movie TRON, Flynn’s Arcade, at Comic-Con 2009. In addition to a number of classic games being on hand for show attendees to revisit, they also featured Space Paranoids in an arcade cabinet. They also had a “secret passageway” which opened up to show off some concept art from the upcoming movie and a life-sized model of the new light-cycles from TRON Legacy.

Comic Con 2010 starts next week and once again, the TL viral marketing campaign has revealed that Flynn’s Arcade will be making a triumphant return to the show, with it open from the 22nd to the 24th. I imagine that Space Paranoids arcade will return but I also if they could unveil another arcade-related surprise. For example, another TRON related flash game has appeared on the internet, on the “ENCOM Japan” website called Circuit Cycles. Seems to me that a light-cycle arcade game (imagine using a light-cycle replica you could sit on as a controller) would be a perfect fit for arcades. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more TRON Legacy arcade goodness next week.

Last year the TRON Legacy viral marketing campaign started off with a bang as they recreated (to an extent) the arcade from the movie TRON, Flynn’s Arcade, at Comic-Con 2009. In addition to a number of classic games being on hand for show attendees to revisit, they also featured Space Paranoids in an arcade cabinet. They also had a “secret passageway” which opened up to show off some concept art from the upcoming movie and a life-sized model of the new light-cycles from TRON Legacy.

Comic Con 2010 starts next week and once again, the TL viral marketing campaign has revealed that Flynn’s Arcade will be making a triumphant return to the show, with it open from the 22nd to the 24th. I imagine that Space Paranoids arcade will return but I also if they could unveil another arcade-related surprise. For example, another TRON related flash game has appeared on the internet, on the “ENCOM Japan” website called Circuit Cycles. Seems to me that a light-cycle arcade game (imagine using a light-cycle replica you could sit on as a controller) would be a perfect fit for arcades. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more TRON Legacy arcade goodness next week.

There is one movie coming out this year which is giving arcades plenty of attention and that is TRON Legacy. While it has been a little while since the last bit of viral marketing took place (with a live event unveiling Space Paranoids Online), a part of the campaign has taken place with a few lucky people getting their hands on these Encom Arcade postcards. I like the element that should be on all arcade flyers or posters – “Now playing at your local arcade”. All of the postcards include some special codes on the back which are supposed to reveal something that is part of the campaign but I have not read about anyone cracking this particular code quite yet.

These games are all part of the TRON universe of course – in reality no such games exist but as this viral campaign continues I find myself with the continual hope that some sort of real arcade project comes out of it. I know it’s unlikely but you never know. In fact I have been designing a few TRON related arcade games and cabinets, just doodling out some thoughts in my little spare time that I plan on making a post out of here soon, looking at the kind of modern arcade games they could do using the TRON universe.

As for the fake games you see above, what real games do you think they best compare to? Astro Gunner and KrazBot look like clones of Asteroids and Tempest respectively. Not sure about Arc Wars and Vice Squad reminds me of Atari’s Cops N’ Robbers, A.P.B. and Midway’s Spy Hunter. Maybe they will be creating online versions of these titles as well, assuming that Space Paranoids Online has done well.

We should be hearing a lot more about TRON Legacy at Comic-Con next month.

UPDATE: I received a Kraz-Bot card in the mail yesterday, obviously if you got one of those Encom badges or have signed up on Flynn Lives with a mailing address then you should be getting one around now.